County hails, Water Taxi balks

Owner of river transit service disputes Broward's demand for return of boats

November 18, 2006|By Bill Hirschman Staff Writer

The Broward County Commission wants its boats back. Now. But Water Taxi Inc. is holding on to them.

The commission's boats are still plying the New River six months after the county canceled its deal to loan the craft to Water Taxi for a high-profile tourist attraction and novel way of transportation.

The county has been fighting in federal and state courts to repossess the vessels so they can be sold, or force the taxi service to buy them.

The commission began cutting off support to Bob Beckoff's iconic Water Taxi service in March and formally canceled the deal to provide 10 boats last May.

This fall, four of the bright yellow craft bearing the words "Broward County Commission" still shuttled on the river between Las Olas Riverfront in Fort Lauderdale to Shooter's restaurant in Oakland Park -- a sight that angered Commissioner Suzanne Gunzberger.

"When I see them on the waterways with our name and we have nothing to do with it, I have a problem," she told commissioners Tuesday.

Bekoff pledged in February to return the county boats, but the legal fighting alleging breach of contract has frozen the handoff.

"We have possession of the boats and that is part of the litigation," Bekoff said this week.

Recently, Bekoff pulled all but two of the county's boats off the river and stored them in his dry dock. Mostly, he relies on his own six boats.

About 750,000 people rode Water Taxi each year at its height, but ridership has been down about 55 percent because of the cutback in service and because Bekoff doubled the price to $10 a ticket. With the increase, annual revenue is down only 2 or 3 three percent, Bekoff said.

In 2001, the county signed contracts allowing Bekoff to draw on $4.5 million in federal aid to run its day-to-day ferry service through 2005, as well as other grants to build ferries and landings.

But the operation ran into rough water in the spring of 2005, when county auditors said Bekoff had reaped excessive profits and received about twice as much in federal money as he was entitled to.

With no new federal grants forthcoming, county commissioners promised in October 2005 that they would find a way to keep the water taxi service afloat and provided some financial aid.

Negotiations for a long-term solution were scuttled when commissioners said the water taxi did not meet federal standards to make the boats accessible to disabled passengers. Bekoff disputed that, but as the result of a different lawsuit, the commission had just agreed to pay $10 million to improve accessibility at bus stops. Officials worried they might face additional legal action over water taxi accessibility.

In recent months, the two sides sparred in court over whether the county owed Bekoff about $1.9 million of the federal grants that the county received by counting the taxi's customers as part of its overall transit ridership. The county countered Bekoff was making an income from the county's free loan of the boats and did not deserve the federal money.

Another sticking point is the fair market value of the boats if the deal ends. In court, Bekoff argues the 10 boats costing a total of $2.5 million had depreciated to $900,000. The county's appraiser values them at about $1.7 million. If Bekoff prevails, taxpayers lose the difference in value.

Bekoff said he provides a service that benefits Broward.

"The only people who suffer are the residents and visitors to Broward County," Bekoff said.

Bill Hirschman can be reached at bhirschman@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4513.